Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that manufacture appliances such as refrigerators are aspiring to shift from the OEMs' current convention design practice of steel stamped parts such as refrigerator parts to new technologies in designing and manufacturing of such refrigerator parts. The current trend in the home appliance industry is moving toward a wall-mounted refrigerator which will prompt OEMs to make such products lighter. For example, OEMs are looking to replace the current steel compressor mounting plate (which is 1-2 kg in weight) of a current refrigerator with a light weight and a non-corrosive composite material compressor mounting base plate.
Generally, the lower portion or bottom structure of an appliance such as a refrigerator contains a machine compartment, a compressor, and a compressor mounting base plate for attaching the compressor to the base plate. A compressor mounting base plate is positioned under the rear part of the refrigerator bottom so as to define a machine compartment and the compressor mounting base plate supports a compressor mounted on the base plate located in the machine compartment.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional design of a refrigerator, generally indicated by numeral 10, illustrating some of the conventional parts of a refrigerator including a conventional steel compressor mounting base plate 11 affixed to the bottom portion of the refrigerator cabin 12 at a lower portion of a refrigerator cabin; and a conventional compressor 13 affixed to the top surface of the compressor mounting base plate 11. The compressor 13 is attached to the top surface of the compressor mounting base plate 11 via threaded bolts 14 and threaded nuts 15; and compressor support member brackets 16 attached to the compressor 13. Disposed in-between the brackets 16 and the surface of the compressor mounting base plate 11 are vibration damping members 17 for attenuating the vibrations of the compressor when the compressor is in operation. In addition, wheels 18 are attached to the compressor mounting base plate 11 to provide movement of the refrigerator when the compressor mounting base plate 11 is affixed to the refrigerator cabin 12.
FIGS. 3-5 illustrate another example of a conventional steel compressor mounting base plate in the form of a rectangular-shaped tray member generally indicated by numeral 20 which can be affixed to the bottom portion of a refrigerator unit of the prior art (not shown) and which is also adapted for receiving and affixing a conventional compressor (not shown) to the top surface of the compressor mounting base plate 21.
A typical compressor mounting plate of the prior art, as shown in FIGS. 3-5, is made from 1 millimeter (mm) thick steel sheets. The compressor mounting plate is usually manufactured using a sheet metal stamping process to form a compressor mounting base plate 21 having a top surface 22 and a bottom surface 23. Integral with the base plate 21 are longitudinal sidewalls 24 and transverse sidewalls 25 forming a tray member 20. A secondary operation is typically used in the manufacturing process of the compressor mounting base plate to form flange tabs 26, flange holes 27, orifices 28, and orifices 29 in the sheet (see FIGS. 3 and 4). Typically, the finished steel compressor mounting plate part is about 1.2 kilograms (kg) in weight.
The compressor mounting base plate 21 contains a plurality of orifices, typically four orifices 29, for receiving a threaded bolt 31 and a threaded nut 32 (for purposes of illustration, one orifice 29 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 without nuts and bolts). The threaded bolts 31 and nuts 32 are used to affix a compressor (not shown) to the compressor mounting base plate 21. A rubber damper member 33, shown in FIGS. 3-5, is inserted between the bolt and nut to providing damping during operation of the compressor. The compressor is attached to the top surface 22 of the base plate to attach to the compressor mounting base plate via a bracket member (similar to bracket 16 of FIGS. 1 and 2). Wheels 34 rotatably affixed to the compressor mounting base plate 21 are used to install the compressor mounting base plate into the refrigerator unit.
When the steel compressor mounting plate of the prior art is subjected to a corrosive environment, over time, the conventional steel compressor mounting plate corrodes and loses its strength. Also, the structural damping coefficient for steel is approximately 2 percent (%) which causes vibrations to transfer to the refrigerator cabin through the compressor mounting plate even though there are typically four rubber dampers fixed with bolts and nuts on the steel sheet compressor mounting plate 21 (for example see damping means including rubber dampers 33 secured to the steel sheet by bolts 31 and nuts 2 shown in FIGS. 3-5) below the location of where the compressor support member brackets will be positioned (for example see brackets 16 of FIGS. 1 and 2).
Thus, OEMs in the home appliance industry are continually seeking appliance equipment and parts such as a compressor mounting base plate product for a refrigerator unit that would provide an improvement to the overall manufacture and cost of an appliance such as a refrigerator unit.